‘Hamilton’ tickets Ponzi scheme that netted $81 million

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged two men in New York with fraud on Friday for running an $81 million Ponzi scheme that promised to make money reselling tickets to the sold-out Broadway musical.

“As alleged in our complaint, Meli and Harriton raised millions from investors by promising big profits from reselling tickets to A-list events when in reality they were moving investor money in a circle and creating a mirage of profitability,” Paul G. Levenson, director of the SEC’s Boston office, said in a statement.

The alleged Ponzi schemers, Joseph Meli and Matthew Harriton, said they had an agreement with a Hamilton producer to buy 35,000 tickets to the show. 125 investors were told they would get their money back within eight months.

In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York today announced criminal charges against Meli.

WATCH: It was the first day of liquidation sales for most Sears stores in Canada slated for closure. But as Andrew Cromwell reports, even as they looked for bargains, shoppers were aware thousands of people will be out of work in the coming months.

Source: Global News

Related

Markets are now assigning an 84% chance of a July rate hike by the Bank of Canada after GDP grew for the sixth straight month and Canadian business leaders reported the strongest outlook since 2011. But TD Economist Brian DePratto says July may still be too early for the Bank of Canada to pull the trigger.